Fallout 3

Terry Bosky

Wednesday

Dec 3, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 21, 2014 at 9:29 PM

[Xbox 360, PS3, PC] Vault 101 is one of many underground complexes constructed to shield inhabitants from the effects of atomic war. Vaults are self-sufficient and were intended to protect humanity until it was safe to return to the surface. But in Vault 101 no one is allowed to enter and no one is allowed to leave. You are born in the Vault and you die in the Vault. So what happens when a Vault dweller is cast into the Wasteland? That's the question you answer in Fallout 3, an RPG set in post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Set more than a generation after Fallout 2 and thousands of miles from Fallout 2's California locale, Fallout 3 is a standalone entry and the first modern game in this venerable franchise. Continuing the franchise’s classless system, Fallout 3 doesn’t dictate how you play. You define your character. You can play an archetype (sniper, medic, thief), but you can also mix and match. Maybe your heavy gunner is also a master hacker. Your doctor might have fierce unarmed combat skills. Or your burglar might also be a mechanic. Your character’s abilities are centered on Fallout’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). Using this as a base, you then spend skill points to specialize in certain areas: Barter, Lockpick, Small Guns, etc. The skills you choose describe your abilities, but they also affect conversations you have and open different ways to complete quests. Karma also comes into play. If you do good or evil, people take notice affecting the game in interesting ways. And like previous Fallouts, the high road doesn’t always lead to a happy ending. After a prologue following your childhood in Vault 101 - basically an extended tutorial where you learn controls and create your character - you are thrust into the Wasteland. And it’s impossible not to be overwhelmed. The Capital Wasteland is an open world, a ruined world, and a living world. Walk in any direction and you’ll find a mega grocery store taken over by raiders, a farm where giant scorpions are killing two-headed cows, or an outpost where a trader will sell you purified water for a fistful of bottlecaps (the game’s currency). There are the major landmarks to visit: the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and other D.C. sites, but there’s more excitement to be had in exploring the unknown. And there’s the constant threat of peril. Towns are littered with landmines, houses are booby trapped, and stepping in a puddle will have you soaking up radiation. However the environmental hazards pale in comparison to missile launcher-wielding supermutants and malfunctioning robots. Fortunately Fallout 3 has an innovative battle system which melds turn-based and real-time combat. It’s possible to play Fallout 3 as a first or third person shooter, but activating the V.A.T.S. mode pauses the game and lets you make the tactical decision of which opponents you want to target and what parts of them you want to hit. Slow someone down by shooting their legs. Shoot that minigun out of their hands. Go for the quick kill with a headshot. After allocating all your action points (based on your agility), combat plays out cinematically - with graphically violent results. You can arm your character with anything from a baseball bat to a high-powered laser rifle or even craft new weapons from detritus you’ve collected. The clothing and armor options available range from your humble Vault jumpsuit to the Power Armor worn by the Brotherhood of Steel (one of Fallout 3’s many factions). And you’ll want to make sure you have medication to lower your radiation, stimpacks to raise your health, and (possibly) drugs to give you an extra boost in combat. Fallout 3 is combat intensive, but there are many non-confrontational options. Stealthy characters can sneak past enemies, characters with a high speech skill can talk themselves out of many situations, and characters with a high perception can detect enemies from a distance and skirt around them. For a world based on radiation and decay, Fallout 3 is stunning. The landscape is the future as seen from 1950 shattered by an atomic holocaust. The level of detail is awing — you can study the piecemeal weaponry or a city’s infrastructure and see that yes, it does work. Every area you explore is filled with real items you can pick up and use (or sell). It’s a bleak world, with raider graffiti scrawled over ancient billboards, but there’s also beauty in it - be it the sunrise over an abandoned drive-in or a single house which survived a bomb blast that leveled the rest of the neighborhood. The Wasteland is realized by a strong audio component. Liam Neeson headlines the game as your father and Malcolm McDowell voices President John Henry Eden, whose moralizing is broadcast over the Wasteland by floating robots. Using your Pip-Boy, a device welded to your arm which serves as the game’s interface, you can tune into Americana on Enclave Radio or music from the 1940s on GNR. Ambient music fills the gaps between radio sessions and every location, creature, and weapon has a distinctive sound. Rounded out by a solid cast of voice actors, Fallout oozes immersion. I realized up to this point that I haven’t discussed the main quest. It’s not that there isn’t one, or that it isn’t compelling, but if you focus in on beating the game, you are missing what Fallout 3 offers. The story of Fallout 3 is secondary to the experience of Fallout 3. And here’s my final point. There’s a lot controversy surrounding Bethesda’s take on Fallout and a lot of discussion on what "Fallout" is. For me, Fallout has always been more than the setting and the system. If you look beyond perspective and mechanics, Fallout has always been a collection of memorable moments: humorous, grim, exhilarating, and poignant. Fallout is a world that exists around me, but one where my actions matter. Fallout isn’t about saving the universe; it’s about touching virtual lives. It’s doing what you can to make the post-apocalypse a little better (or a lot worse). And that’s what you can expect from Fallout 3.

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